Distance cap?

Might not be a bug but better safe than sorry

from GalCiv2 Forums
It seems there is a hardcoded limit on how far ships, or atleast, how far my freighter mark 3 with 14 sectors supply range can travel. It seems that it is limited to half of that or so. I know this because i upgraded it to a later model just to make sure and the range which it can travel didnt change one bit (and yes, i did it properly with the life support and not the engines upgrading)

So is there a hardcoded limit on how far freighters can travel. And if so, could you remove it as it is very very... strange. That there should be a limit on how long they can travel yet still be able to place life support modules on them to go beyond that range. In my gigantic galaxy with rare stars and star clusters, the trade routes end up being exceptionally long so if i cant establish routes longer than 1/3rd of the length of the galaxy it severly limits my income.

Might be expandable by building starbases but that would be a bad idea as i would then have to protect a starbase 10 sectors away from my home.
7,911 views 17 replies
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Hi!
It seems there is a hardcoded limit on how far ships, or atleast, how far my freighter mark 3 with 14 sectors supply range can travel.

Erm, I'm not exactly sure what you're asking. There's a default range for any ship without life support modules. It depends on the galaxy size - the larger, the greater range. The better life support tech enlarges it a bit (just few squares each). But beyond that you need to put on ship life supports - the more, the longer range.

BR, Iztok
The Political Machine 2024
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Same happens to me. When I play Gigantic or Huge maps it seems to be limit my ships can't pass no matter if I research all life support technologies and load the ships with life support modules. I can load a cargo hull only with life support modules and it still won't travel beyond that limit. Usually the furthest distand you can travel is limited by a circle, but in this case, the limit is a straight line that darkens out a whole strip of the map.

Yes, building star bases or conquering planets in that direction will fix the problem.

Sorry for my english.

Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Thats what i meant to say. There is a hardcoded cap into the distance one can travel even if the ship is filled with life support. It applies to all ships as far as i can see. It is a tad bit strange that i can supposedly build ships that can go beyond that hardcoded limit by adding enough lfie support to them but in reality the area they can travel is limited by some hardcoding. This is noticable in giganttic maps as the area i can travel is a square when filled with supply units instead of a sphere which it is if the supply cap is not reached. Very annoying and very strange as it stops me from destroying the undefended strbases behind enemy lines when i'm entrenched and havnt built starbases all over the galaxy to extend my range.
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Yeah, I wish it were documented somewhere, so I can quit wasting space on life support modules that are going to be ignored anyway.

It's like the sensor cap. Put on all the sensors you like and it still won't see past 15pc, but that's not documented anywhere either.
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
So no explanation or clarification? Just one undocumented feature that makes it impossible to make such things like deep space exploration without starbases even with full supplyrange. And the "corners" galaxies on the hugest galaxy a little strange as you cant do trade routes with the rest of the galaxy without starbases even with full supply range?
Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Yeah, go figure... All things considered though, Stardock has done a great job fixing/changing a lot of the things we find wrong or annoying with it.

The range seems to cap out at a 14.2 sector diameter (7.1 sector actual range), and this doesn't grow with tech advances.

The 15 parsec scanner range is fairly large, but for those of us who get the Eyes of the Universe G.A., it negates the use of sensors since it gives every ship a 15 parsec scanning radius. Funny thing is, the description says it adds 10 to the scanning radius, and ships come with a 3 or 4 default radius. After the +1 from the first sensors tech, the 4 parsec initial ones should go to 15 (I think only huge hulls start with a 4 parsec scanning radius), and the rest should go to 14, right? Oh well, 15 parsec scanning radius for everyone!
Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
It would help if someone would at least explain the reason for the range cap and give us the exact number. I can't see any logical reason for it. It's a pain in the ass for me, because I play gigantic maps almost exclusively. I can have an empire stretching halfway across the map and still not be able to reach everything.
Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Me too, thats what i find so darn annoying, that right now it is impossible to, for example, make a Voyager type mod where you travel from one end of the galaxy to another and go through different events trying to survive and so forth, not that i would make such but just an example. And it limits trade areas and so forth. I also find the 15 sensor range too little. Hard coded is always hardcoded but since they have the code thy ahve the possiblity of fixing it IF they want to, its another matter ofcourse on if they want to or if it is "working as designed" some kind of ackonwledgement would ofcoruse be nice
Reply #10 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The range cap may be there as a means of balancing players versus A.I.

A player would probably take a powerful warship and some transports, lose one or two components that you would have normally, then throw on A LOT of Life Support modules, then you could go deep into enemy territory without having to build one starbase.

In other words, who cares about a range cap since all you have to do is move a single constructor to the limit in which ever direction you want, build a starbase, and now you have a lot more area you can reach. If you are at war and don't want to arm the starbase, stick it somewhere away from traffic so the A.I. won't find it immediatly. I am so glad Stardock made an A.I. that doesn't cheat by knowing where all of your stuff is and countering it before you even strike or hitting that one temporarily undefended area while you redisperse forces.
Reply #11 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
When upgrading ships the displayed cost for upgrading all your ships now is the correct amount (nr of ships times cost of a ship) but you only get charged for one ship! Cheap way to upgrade your fleet.

=edit= oops, wrong thread
Reply #12 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Not cheap for me. I was charged for upgrading all of them in my last game. I am on 1.2b1.
And what is the big deal about sending out a constructor for increased range? If you know that is how the game works, why not just work with it? Life is full of little limitations none of us like. If there happens to be an easy workaround, so much the better.
Reply #13 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I'd rather it worked, rather than work around it.

If it's a bug, it should go on the fix list. If it's intentional, the size of the limit should be documented so people don't put on extra life support modules that won't help.

Besides, bases don't survive very long when Dread Lords are around.
Reply #14 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Well, me too, and me too.
In the meantime, though...

The bases are not really needed except when you go out that far. Another option for destroyed bases is to include a constructor in a fleet going that way. When it reaches its limit, drop off the constructor.
Or, send a fleet of constructors so the base can be protected from the outset.
Reply #15 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Unfortunately, a fully armed starbase can easily be taken out by two or three ships since the Starbase can only fire at one ship at a time.

Fortunately, with the new combat system, the starbase may actually kill something, or at least damage it for once!

Also, shouldn't hit points of the starbase increase as you put larger and larger battle stations on it?
Reply #16 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I very seldom lose a starbase that is fully loaded up, until late in the game when there are some pretty hefty battleships in the fleets.

If the ships are not in a fleet, only one ship at a time can fire. And it gets fired back on by the starbase. If in a fleet, the fleet fires then the starbase fires. But my starbases usually win.
Reply #17 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Early in the game yes, but unfortunately, or fortunately depending upon how you look at it, I seem to get into a literal galactic war later in the game. I get a kick out of putting only good and evil races in sometimes and watching them all go to war once the A.I. decides to start forming alliances. I guess I get a kick out of 2 v 2, or 3 v 3, or 2 v 3 wars. Now if only the A.I. would help me defend my stuff, although I usually have no problem letting the enemy blow up my allies mining bases...